The public health measure Title 42 expires on Thursday, May 11 and officials are expecting at least 10,000 illegal immigrants waiting in Mexico to immediately attempt cross the southern border the moment the policy is no longer in use.
Title 42 was enacted by former President Donald Trump during the COVID pandemic in an effort to slow the virus spread but also as a way to stem the flow of migration. It allows authorities to deny entry to those who might pose a health risk:
Title 42 was first enacted nearly eight decades ago as part of the Public Health Service Act of 1944.
The policy allows for border and immigration authorities to prohibit the entry of those who potentially pose a health risk or recently visited a country where a communicable disease was present.
Specifically, the law is related to stopping those who unlawfully entered the country and therefore were able to bypass any health-screening measures that might be in place.
President Biden twice tried to remove the restriction but was rejected by the courts after legal battles. But now, with the COVID pandemic emergency officially ending May 11, Title 42 is finally sunsetting too. Over 2.5 million people have been expelled since it was enacted by Trump.
What does the end of Title 42 mean? An expected tsunami of folks crossing at the border—some estimates put the number at a staggering 700,000 to 1 million in the near term alone. As RedState’s Mike Miller reported, Biden has ordered 1,500 active-duty troops to the area in the coming days to join the 2,500 National Guard that are already there. However, as our Becky Noble wrote, border agents allege that the Biden administration has given little guidance on how to handle the expected influx.
The situation is already at a crisis point, so the expiration of Title 42 is really going to add to the chaos:
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas took to CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday to describe what he will be doing all the things he hasn’t done to address the crisis.
Our approach is to build lawful pathways, cut out the ruthless smugglers, deliver lawful pathways so people can access humanitarian relief without having to take the dangerous journey from their home countries. And at the same time, if they arrive at our southern border in between ports of entry, we will deliver consequences.
We’re not ignoring the problem, he claimed:
Formerly Democratic now Independent senator from Arizona Kyrsten Sinema also appeared on “Face the Nation” and blasted the administration:
The Biden administration had two years to prepare for this and did not do so. And our state is going to bear the brunt. And migrants will be in crisis as soon as next week. It will be a humanitarian crisis, because we are not prepared.
She added that she and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) recently proposed legislation that would grant a temporary two-year authority to expel migrants similar to what is currently allowed under Title 42, but admitted that a bill has absolutely no chance of passage before May 11.
Biden’s border has been possibly his worst failure among the many during his presidency. While he talks about compassion, some towns in Texas are “like a graveyard” with dead bodies piling up from migrants who died trying to cross the Rio Grande or suffered other perils. Fentanyl pours into the country as overdoses reach record levels. Terrorists potentially plotting to hurt Americans regularly cross into the United States. Millions of illegals have poured into our country, their whereabouts unknown.
It’s only going to get worse with the end of Title 42. As Sinema said, Biden had two years to prepare for this—and yet all indications are that he did anything but.
